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Backgrounds
='Backgrounds'= Backgrounds work to create added flavor to your character. They provide depth and history that you as a player can draw on as you further create your Rp. ---- 'Let Me Tell you About Me: Writing a Good Background' [ 87] Torey: Let Me Tell you About Me: Writing a Good Background Wed Jul 26 20:57:17 2000 To: Grokle "Less is more, in prose as in architecture" -Donald Hall Most of us write as if we were going to be paid a nickel per word. Really, it has been conditioned into us... We can't help it. We are taken in by words, satisfied by our impressive usages of them, without really considering the poor souls who must suffer through what we write. When writing a background for your character, I think it is necessary to consider a few things: That this will most likely be read while other things are scrolling by. People should not have to go afk to look up a word in the dictionary that you used just to get the jist of what you are saying. No one cares as much about your character as you. I believe that they key to writing backgrounds is to first and foremost say as much as you can in as few words as possible. This is done by using implications, rather than specific words or phrases. Think about what you really want people to know about your character... And leave the rest to be discovered through RP. I am sure that it is more rewarding to act out your past, then to hand it out on a platter to anyone who wishes it. Secondly, try to avoid the use of cliche or common stereotypes. Certainly there are exceptions. If your character is an evil mage who has secluded himself from society then so be it, but attempt to give your character a unique reason why. Backgrounds can breathe life into a character. They can include as much or as little as you desire others to know. But they can also burden a character, or make them seem over-dramatic. Do not come up with a background that you are unwilling to RP. Expressing your creativity through your background can be fun as well. Some things you might like to try are writing your background in the form of a whispered conversation between two people in a bar, or as a poem, or as a self-reflection. The possibilities are endless! I would like to end with a quote from Rudolph Flesch: "Punctuation, to most people, is a set of arbitrary and rather silly rules you find in printer's style books and in the back pages of school grammars. Few people realize that it is the most important single device for making things easier to read." Remember to include the fact that other people will read your backgrounds when creating them, and you can't go wrong! ---- Go back to the Role-Playing Guide Go back to the DSL Wiki Home Page Return to the Top of the Page